For years I played chess online opposite a man who presented himself as the Armenian Consul in Belgium. Alongside opening moves and castling, we usually debated quite passionately the differences between the Jewish and Armenian genocides. My opponent argued that there was in fact no difference. I, on the other hand, said that though the massacre of the Armenians was terrible, it was different. An Armenian who pledged allegiance to the Turkish regime was allowed to live unencumbered in the heart of the Ottoman Empire, whereas a Jew would not have been spared even if he agreed to serve in the Nazi army. Usually, whichever one of us had spent more time on this cyber-argument entered what is known in chess as "time trouble" and lost. He often wondered why it was so important to me to point out the differences between the two atrocities. I responded that I could not understand why it was important to him to draw similarities between them. The Armenian accepted my argument, but explained that the Jews had been handsomely compensated for the suffering of their people while the Turks have never even recognized the Armenian genocide, not to mention compensated for it. The argument usually ended in a tie. The Armenian chess player went offline some five years ago, but the historic question enters into our diplomatic agenda from time to time. After France outlawed the denial of the Armenian genocide, the topic was raised in the Knesset. Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin and MK Zahava Gal-On rejected requests by National Security Council head Yaakov Amidror to cancel the open-forum debate on the issue. On Monday, the Knesset Education Committee debated the 1915 Armenian genocide it was a troublesome debate. When Turkey was Israel's ally, the opposition had to be pressured to refrain from upsetting Ankara. At the time when Meretz was pushing, the Turks started every official meeting with a reprimand for the mere mention of the genocide in Jerusalem. Now that our relations with Turkey have deteriorated, even Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman opposes a debate on the topic. Funny. He heads the same Foreign Ministry that so bluntly insulted the Turkish ambassador to Israel. It's a lose-lose situation. Ultimately, there is no choice. The Armenian genocide was a terrible atrocity. It demands recognition, but not law. It does not require a Knesset decision, but rather educational institutions should be guided to teach about it in detail. The Jewish people do not have the option of keeping silent, but there is merit to asking the opposition to wait.
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